Ranking the Packers (No. 65): WR Malik Taylor
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In a tradition that stretches more than a decade, here is our annual ranking of the 90 players on the Green Bay Packers’ roster. This isn’t merely a look at the best players. Rather, it’s a formula that combines talent, salary, importance of the position, depth at the position and, for young players, draft positioning. More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.
No. 65: WR Malik Taylor (6-1, 216, first year, Ferris State)
Taylor faced an uphill battle last summer. An undrafted rookie from Ferris State, a Division II school in Big Rapids, Mich., he was signed by the Packers about a week before the start of training camp. He didn’t make the roster but showed enough to spend the entire season on the practice squad.
“It is very challenging,” Taylor told Packers Wire recently. “Especially me coming from D2 and not playing my senior year due to injury. I pretty much had all of the cards stacked up against me. I just have to keep my head down, do what I can do, control the controllables. I always told myself: Once I find a team that fits me right and I get an opportunity, I am going to run with it.”
Taylor caught 47 passes for 1,017 yards – a glitzy 21.6-yard average – and five touchdowns as a sophomore in 2016 and 61 passes for 906 yards and six touchdowns as a junior in 2017. However, he missed almost all of his senior season due to a hamstring injury that ruined his draft prospects. He ran a 4.46 at pro day. He signed with Tampa Bay following a tryout at its rookie camp but only lasted a couple weeks.
“We really like Malik Taylor,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said after not selecting a receiver in this year’s draft.
Why he’s got a chance: The Packers didn’t draft a receiver and added only one, Michigan State’s Darrell Stewart, in undrafted free agency. With a season in the offense, he’ll obviously be in a better spot when training camp starts. “My speed is definitely one thing defenses fear.”
